UNRULY housing association tenants ‘parachuted in’ from outside areas are to blame for anti-social behaviour in Lampeter, it has been claimed.

Wales & West Housing deputy chief executive Shayne Hembrow and colleagues Gareth Thomas and Glenda Bowen received a hostile reception at a town council meeting in light of their controversial plans to build 20 homes on the site of the former Ffynnonbedr School in Bryn Road.

The plan is on hold after Ceredigion County Council threw out an application by Hacer Developments Ltd. But the housing association is backing Hacer’s appeal, despite strong opposition from locals who claim they are regularly victims of anti-social behaviour.

They are also incensed by new moves to flatten the ‘iconic’ old school without planning permission.

“You do not have any empathy with this area – you are bringing big city attitudes into small rural towns,” stormed Cllr Selwyn Walters. “You do not have a feel for a local community that is being affected by tenants parachuted in.

“It’s affecting our whole traditional way of life – we’re not prepared to accept that and will carry on fighting until you do something about it.”

The meeting broke up after deputy mayor Cllr Rob Phillips challenged Wales and West to ‘pull back’ from the appeal ‘and work alongside the community instead’.

When Mr Hembrow replied: “I think that the appeal should run,” Cllr Phillips retorted: “Basically, you do not care what the people of Lampeter think.”

Mr Hembrow: “I’m sorry if that’s the way you feel.”

Wales and West have 12,000 homes and nearly 20,000 tenants throughout Wales, including 955 properties in Ceredigion, 49 of which are in Lampeter.

Their officers told councillors that around 80 per cent of tenants were local while the ‘small number’ coming from outside Ceredigion had family connections there.

See this week’s South Ceredigion paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now